1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a stretch wrapper which is mounted on a pallet carrier so that, as a loaded pallet is moved, it is also stretch-wrapped.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modern mechanized handling requires that a number of small packages be packed together so that they can be handled in larger units. Pallets are used as a base, and packages are stacked on the pallet to a convenient size and weight for mechanical handling. One approach to retaining the packages on the pallet has been steel banding. Steel bands were placed around the packages and the pallet, and the bands tightened and clamped. The problem with steel banding is that loads can shift and, under the wrong circumstances, all the packages on the outer extremities of the load directly under the steel bands can be crushed. Furthermore, the steel bands are most useful on heavy metal objects, such as pipe and other forms of steel. It must also be noted that steel banding does not provide any weather protection for the packages.
A newer method of securing packages on a pallet to provide a palletized load is to shrink wrap the packages and the pallet. In this arrangement, bags are made out of shrinkable material (usually polyethylene), and the bag is placed over the palletized packages. Thereupon, the bag is subjected to heat whereupon it shrinks to unitize the palletized load. Shrink wrapping is useful for loads which are uniform size, but requires special equipment for causing the shrinkage. Since heat is used to cause the shrinkage, it cannot be used in cold rooms or other areas where high heat loads are objectionable. Furthermore, it cannot be used over polyethylene wrapped packages because of sticking between the shrink wrapping material and such packages.
To overcome these disadvantages, stretch-wrapping has been developed. In these machines, one of which is seen in Lancaster, U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,806, a stack of packages is placed on a turntable. Usually, these packages are mounted on a pallet. The turntable is rotated, and the palletized load of packages is wrapped with a stretch-wrap material. This material may be polyethylene or polyvinylchloride web or film and is manufactured to be able to stretch at least 25 percent. During wrapping of the load, tension on the stretch-wrap film provides a tension which stretches the film from 15 to 25 percent. The film is thin, usually about 1,100th of an inch thick, and the load is wrapped with as many thicknesses as is necessary to obtain the desired unitized load strength.
The stretch wrap film may be as tall as the load or may be narrower than the height of the load. In the latter case, the narrower film is spiral-wrapped around the load. Since more wraps are necessary at the top and bottom of the load than at the middle for best strength, this is more economical of material. However, these stretch-wrap concepts have been limited to those loads which can be placed on the turntable and rotated.
Goldstein U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,174 employs stretch-wrap film and overcomes many of the disadvantages of the prior art by having a motive unit which carries the stretch-wrap unit, with the motive unit guided around the material to be wrapped. In employing that stretch-wrap unit, the material to be wrapped is in a stationary position, and the motive unit is guided around the material by any of a variety of guiding or steering devices and methods.
Goldstein U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,395 further improves stretch-wrapping equipment, again by employing a motive unit carrying a stretch-wrap unit. In this case, the motive unit is self-guided around the material to be wrapped by employing a follower to contact the load so that no separate guiding or steering equipment is necessary. In this way, irregular loads are more easily accommodated, and no special location with its guiding track is necessary.
In each of the foregoing stretch-wrap methods, a certain amount of floor space is required. The amount of floor space is particularly large when the turntable structure is employed, but sufficient floor space must be provided for the stretch-wrap equipment which travels around the load.